Encounter 2: Team Karui vs. Team Oto
The ground of this section of the forest is wet and muddy. Fungus covers the sides of the trees, making them slick and slimy. The murk conceals poisonous animals and plants, and natural hazards. Pre-Combat Actions and Roleplaying Team Karui "What the fuck possessed you little shit hole into leading us here, huh!?" Nikkotama Byakko cursed loudly. She wore an angry expression upon her visage, even more hostile than her normal expressions she usually wore when she was angry. This obviously wasn't her ideal place, evident by the mere fact that she angrily swatted every little insect which came into her reach. Oh, if those insects could read her facial expression then they would go the opposite direction. Once more, Nikkotama lifted her hand in a position which appeared as if she was going to hit another insect, however, this time, she had hit Izaya Yashin instead in the back of his head. It was hard hit — even for her. "Ow? Jesus Christ! Woman, you have quite the arm. How about you put that to use in battle, huh?" Izaya playfully said. He thought very little of his words and actions. All he simply thought was joke, joke, joke, flirting and joking. Well, we can say that he didn't take things very seriously. Nope, not at all. He would've kept on laughing if Nikkotama wouldn't have been smitten with him once more, demanding the answer to why he led the team to such a place. "If you'd stop hitting me, you would see the answer for yourself. In fact, it is quite simple! Shich-Chan, you know why, don't you?" Izaya questioned, turning the duo's attention to Shichirou Chiyo, the third member of their group. That Izaya. You tricky shinobi, Shichirou thought, coming to the realization that Izaya actually had no clue where he was going. He was just walking and walking and walking without a care. Truth is, this terrain irritated Shichirou much, much more than it did Nikkotama, but he was the most composed member of the team. He was never rattled, moved by fear. Nope, just about nothing frightened him. Even his female teammate ceased to scare him. It was nearly impossible. Perhaps the only thing he was frightened by was a world filled with nothing but men. "Well! Are you going to fucking say anything!?" Nikkotama cursed once more, her voice a bit more hostile than before. Shichirou was awoken from his temporary trance. He formed a bright smile and pointed his right index finger into the sky as if he was about to state something extremely deep and smart. He normally did. "Well, the answer is simple, Nikkotama. Izaya knew that others wouldn't dare venture into a place like this. Only people completely out of our mind would do this, and we can conclude that we are basically crazy. Especially Izaya," Shichirou said, winking over to Izaya before returning to his explanation. "Nevertheless, this was a tactic devised by Izaya to come here so that we wouldn't be pursued and so that we could sleep peacefully the first day. So, that is the reason we came here," Shichirou explained, expecting Nikkotama to buy it. Well, she didn't. "Oh? You're fucking serious then? Well, tell me when you devised this strategy Izaya", she demanded, adding an extra emphasis on the name. This was a hint for Shichirou to stay silent, or else. "Uh, maybe while we were walking," Izaya answered, shrugging afterwards. Truth be told, he had no plan. He was just walking. What could he do as of now? "That's what I thought, you shit holes!" Nikkotama said, this time her voice raised at a higher tone than previous. "I knew that following you was a mistake! And you . . . !" She turned her attention to Shichirou. "You're just a fucking liar! Sneaky, slippery, word-playing bastard!" the female cursed once more, spitting all over the place with ever syllable. Ugh, disgusting. But did she care? No. "Nikkotama, please calm down!" Shichirou begged, attempting to hold back all of his laughter. "We need to stay calm and composed. Especially in situations like these. Don't you understand? We lied to you because we knew you would act like this. It was a tactic over a tactic. Sorta like a flash-back over a flash . . ." Shichirou was abruptly interrupted. "Shut the hell up you! I've heard enough. Set up camp! Can you two at least do that, right?" Nikkotama demanded, dismissing the two to set up camp. Talk about being pissed. "Just sit down on your pretty ass, Tamatama. We, the man of our team, will do the dirty job for a woman as you," Izaya said with a sly grin to his female teammate. He pulled Shichirou with him by his ear and snickered as Nikkotama cursed more colorful words at him. "Ouch, ouch, ouch, stop pulling me by my ear," Shichirou complained as he tried to pry off Izaya's hand that clamped his right ear. "You know that I'm a sensitive boy!" "N'aawwh, you're so adorable Shichi-chan." Izaya released Shichirou's ear after he checked if Nikkotama hadn't sneakily followed them. It was stupid of him to actually watch around several times as he could feel that Nikkotama was still at their self-made camp. "Well, spit it out — you're not fooling me, Iza." Izaya snickered once again and his eyes gleamed up in the shadow that was provided by the mist bank. Shichirou sighed briefly and knew that his friend had a devilish plan in his mind. It better be good to separate us of Nikko-chan, he thought playfully as he remembered the Nikkotama's priceless face after Izaya complimented her. "You sly fox!" Shichirou exclaimed as Izaya pulled out their scroll that Nikkotama was originally holding in her pocket. "When did you steal it from her?" he questioned as he put his hand underneath his chin. "Eh, who says I had ever handed her the scroll. Kidding, love! I stole it from her just before she demanded that we had to set up the camp. Now as for the plan," he began to whisper the plan in Shichirou's ear and a smug grin plastered on his face as he finished telling. "FINALLY!" yelled Nikkotama as the boys returned to their camp. "You fucking bastards ran away from me despite knowing that we are in the middle of a DAMNED forest with fucking beasts roaming around!" She stood up and walked towards the two boys and stood in front of them with her arm crossed. Not to mention that Nikkotama looked beyond pissed at the duo and especially this time at Shichirou. "I demand an explanation of both of you morons that left me in this gross place, ALL ALONE. Though, I'm very disappointed in you Shichirou because I didn't expect YOU to blindly follow that moron." "You're a cruel woman, Tamatama. Look. I forcefully dragged him along to scout the area with me," Izaya lied smoothly to the girl. "Didn't I tell you that we, the men of the team, would fix everything?" Nikkotama closely narrowed her eyes at Izaya. She knew better than to belief every single word that he uttered as he could lie even about a little fly. "What do you have to fucking say about it?" she questioned harshly and glared dangerously at Shichirou. He, on the other hand, was beaded with sweat-drops as the kunoichi stepped closer at him. "Well, what about it, huh? You know that we don't have fucking all day." Shichirou feared to slip his mouth of the plan Izaya and he had formed. He gathered his courage and said the words that would become his death. "I like you, Nikko-chan. You know I've always and I jus . . . couldn't resist to hold up my feelings any longer." He said innocently to his teammate and had to hold his laughter at Nikkotama's shocked and priceless face. "Shichirou . . . Izaya . . . I despise the both of you! Stupid flirts and liars," she responded fiercely before walking back to her previous position. Izaya whistled at Nikkotama's reaction, whom would've normally beaten them up like a piece of paper. That's a good sign. "Fuckers, get a move on and eat," she yelled at them. I wished too soon, muttered Izaya in his mind and playfully pushed Shichirou forward as he made his way towards Nikkotama. Team Oto "Ugh." For the hundredth time, Kisei fishes an over-large mosquito out of his teeth. A cloud of them surrounded their group the instant they discovered the swamp, and, try as he might, he could not shake them off. For every mosquito that was swatted, another two took its place, and soon any exposed piece of flesh among them was covered. For the hundredth time, Kisei thanked the gods he was covered in the puppet disguise. Aside from the uncomfortable heat and moisture, he was mostly safe from the vermin. Only a few snuck in through the eyeslits of the puppet body. Having set up camp for the night, Team Oto was close to what appeared to be a large swamp, the surface of the water was murky and cruddy, each pool could be barely one foot deep, or ten. carefully. Setsuna examined their surroundings carefully in the guise of Shiyo, all while feigning innocence and weakness as he made a scene of attempting to look as disgusted by their filthy surroundings as at all possible. "Eeew, this is just so icky! I'm certain there's frogs here, and ants and snakes and bees and angry walruses and-" Shooting a quick glance at the girl making a fuss, Hibiki Fuka frowned in distaste before cutting her teammate off mid-sentence "We're extremely unlikely to encounter walruses in a swamp, Shiyo", turning around to face her teammate, Shiyo smiled sweetly at Hibiki before turning back to complain about the environment and how her shoes, skirt and socks were being soiled by the mud. However, behind his façade of an upset damsel, Setsuna paid close attention to his surroundings, he needed to know just what lurked in this area. Channeling chakra to his genetic implants, Setsuna released a sound-wave from his person, as it travelled across the landscape and idly bounced back and forth between the trees before it finally withdrew back towards the form of the lone maiden. Images started to flash through his mind then, and he could make out several nearby animals and likewise gauge the depth of some of the pools in the area, most of them appeared to be fairly shallow, at between two to three feet deep, but three particular pools were all deeper than the rest, each extending down to about ten feet each. The fauna of the swamp was florid, it mainly consisted of various amphibians and reptiles such as lizards, caimans and more, there were species snakes there but all of them were unfortunately non-venomous. He recognized them immediately though, he had grown quite accustomed to snakes during his training and upbringing, and the most numerous species he found here were swamp snakes primarily, as expected of a swamp. Unfortunately, these would be of little use against a hostile shinobi being small and puny, and possessing no venom. The second most numerous specie however, was quite promising, for it would appear that this was a promising hunting ground for several species of constrictors, specifically.. the infamous green anaconda! Setsuna felt his lips curve in a grin that was quite uncharacteristic for the hapless dimwit he was so meticulously portraying; the anaconda was an extraordinarily skilled hunter and relied on stealth and camouflage to ambush unsuspecting prey, often lying in waiting in shallow waters, just beneath the murky surface. Releasing another sound-wave, masked by the perpetual noise of their surroundings, Setsuna placed a genjutsu upon several anacondas that were fairly close to their current position. He needed to ensure that he was capable of defending himself if need be. Hibiki found that this was the right time to pursue the next step on their agenda, namely who exactly was impersonating her former comrade. Walking over to Kisei, she looked into the puppets eyes sharply, her scarlet eyes ruthlessly boring into her teammate, before speaking suddenly, breaking the silence with a direct and stern question. "It's about time that you told us just who you are, imposter" she had decided that enough was enough, and while she had refrained from bringing it up until now, she felt that she could no longer further jeopardize her and Shiyo's mission by keeping silent any longer. "Fool? Don't you know who the fuck I am? I'm Koji Ishirou. Don't make me pound that memory into your head again." Kisei puts on his best impression of Koji's voice... which is surprisingly good. You wouldn't think such a small person could fake such a deep voice. Flexing his arms menacingly, "Koji" begins to very carefully back into the pond behind him. Maybe I can escape by swimming away... this girl seems dangerous... Hibiki's movements were so quick and practiced that it seemed to be but a blur of her right hand. No sooner had "Koji" taken a step back before he found to his surprise that there was an explosive tag attached to his chest, it was hard to pinpoint when exactly she had placed it there, it might've been when she stepped up to examine him, or it might've been after he began moving, eitherway, mere moments after he discovered it, it exploded with significant impact. Cracking open the puppet body and having bits and pieces of "Koji Ishirou" fall off of him and down to the ground, revealing the young boy beneath the façade and wooden muscles, the explosion itself wasn't particularly potent, as Hibiki had purposely used a weaker tag than usual. In order to ensure that she didn't harm her teammate, imposter though he might be. Kisei sits inside the smoking remains of his disguise, shocked, before panic starts to set in. "Shit!" Flipping over backwards out of the puppet's legs, he dives into the pond behind him and attempts to use the murky water to conceal his escape. When Kisei entered the water it was dark and murky, he could barely see anything beneath the surface and it felt warm against his skin. Setsuna frowned deeply at his idiocy, anyone else would probably have thought twice before entering swamp water, but apparently their clever teammate wasn't exactly bright, that could prove to be a problem. Nevertheless though, he required his cooperation if they were to optimize their chances of survival till the last round of the Chūnin Exams, reaching out to some of the "friends" he had gathered earlier. Ripples in the water were the only sign Kisei got before something latched onto his wrist and began to pull him down into the water, green scales were clearly visible, as a large snake began to coil around his body. It would appear that his abrupt dive had disturbed a local anaconda, probably scaring away its next meal to boot, and now it had decided that it would rather have the puppeteer for dinner instead. However, just as it was about to pull the boy under the water to drown him and make eating him easier, it abruptly stopped and instead swam towards Shiyo and Hibiki before slithering ashore with Kisei locked firmly in its coils. "Ah! No! Let me go!" Kisei struggles against the constrictor, but its crushing grip is more than his puny arms can resist. "OW! Alright, alright, I'm not Koji. Obviously. My name is Kisei Kumo. I knocked out the real Koji and took his place, alright?" The constrictor begins coiling around his head menacingly. "Ok. You want to know why I did it?! I wanted to be in the exams. That's all. All I care about is getting to the finals. I'll do whatever you want until then, just let me stay in the exams." Abruptly, the constrictor loosened its grip around Kisei before slithering away, back down into its pond, controlled by Setsuna's genjutsu as it was. However, he made certain to mask his presence and instead turned to gaze at Kisei in the guise of Shiyo, before squealing in a most annoying fashion "Eeeeeek! S-snake! I told you there were snakes here, I'm done, I don't want to be here anymore! Please get me home, I want to head home now!" Hibiki gave Shiyo an annoyed look, shutting the whining little prissy-pants up with a mere glance, she then looked back at her most recent capture before she decided to continue with the matter at hand. Speaking softly to Kisei she began the explain the situation "So, you defeated Koji did you? Well, good riddance, he would only be a hindrance to our mission in either case - he was a bit too willful for his own good, Shiyo-chan here is largely respectful and docile, she's a good follower" Tapping the ground with her foot, Hibiki glared down at Kisei "However, we do require a third member to improve our chances, we cannot afford to fail. Since you dispatched of our previous teammate its only fair that you take his place in our team, if you refuse we'll feed you to the anaconda. I'm certain that it'll leave behind no evidence of your unfortunate demise in either event" Folding her arms across her chest, Hibiki grinned at the boy "So, do we have a deal?" "Ok. Deal. I help you get the scrolls, you keep your mouths shut about me." Kisei reaches out his hand and shakes Hibiki's. As he does so for those brief moments, it feels as though her chakra is being forcibly ripped out of her arm. "So I guess we should learn a bit about eachothers' skills... I'm a puppeteer. I can also drain chakra." Kisei then proceeds to explain his techniques and abilities to the other members of Team Oto, in the hopes of collaborating with them to improve their chances of future success. Encounter 2 Time: 8 PM, Day 1 Advantage: Team Karui (Both have sensor nins. I flipped a coin.) Encounter Effects: The muck and heavy overgrowth inhibits movement. The move action costs an additional action. Round 1: Team Karui Izaya Yashin: * "Izaya makes a trap" – Delayed action * "Izaya makes a trap" – Delayed action * "Izaya throws four senbon with a rapid speed at the opponent with the intention to numb the target — he tried to aim at the most familiar chakra source" – Attack Nikkotama Byakko: * "Nikkotama climbs on top of the slickly large tree" – Movement action x 2 * "Nikkotama makes a (weak) barrier around herself during the preparation of her next action" – Defense : Play: Nikkotama cursed under her breath as she climbed on top of a slickly large tree (Movement Action), leaving Izaya and Shichirou below to fight if anyone were to appear now. She was never impressive at combat, and that was why she decided to just leave it off towards the men of the team. Ugh, yeah right. Nikkotama rolled her eyes, and she felt a little bit annoyed at how much of a coward she was being. But what can she do? She was only good at protecting. Well, at least she was good at something rather than nothing, at all. : With swift movements of her hands, Nikkotama created a barrier for herself (Defense) — a rather weak one, much to Nikkotama's annoyance. Creating a strong barrier with inexperience hands absorbs too much chakra and stamina, two things which Nikkotama would like to save at all costs. She can't create a strong one yet, because she really needed her chakra. She was yet to become a pro. But at least, this barrier would protect her during her preparation for her next action. Shichirou Chiyo: Round 1: Team Oto Hibiki Fuka: Hibiki watched on as her opponent's were distracted with her allies. Deciding it was time for her own initiative, the Bomb Girl readied her first form of attack. Slipping from her sleeves two small tags, labeled with the emblazoned ink, representing the kanji of Smoke, 煙. With swift action, Hibiki sent the two smoke bombs towards the field of battle, in the midst of ally and enemy alike. Eyes glinting, she knew this would provide ample support for her team. The bombs detonated soon after, releasing the concentrated smoke screen from within, and out into the field. Grey fog began to fill the entire area in a matter of seconds. Attack Taking note of her other opponent, Nikkotama, Hibiki grimaced slightly. Those that stood at bay were always preparing for something in the long term. It was best to shut her down before anything effective could be produced from the Kumo-nin. Pointing her arms upward, letting the sleeves fall up her arms, revealing the twin wrist launchers she had shackled across her forearms. Shooting out two long kunai, slender but refined. Designed specifically for her unique way of 'throwing them', their build allowed them to fly faster and pierce deeper. It was not at her foe she aimed, but towards the base of the large, but horridly decayed trunk of the tree. The two kunai, were wrapped with explosive tags, encasing the weaponry in their deadly kanji. And as the kunai met the base of the tree, detonation was immediate. Touch sensitive, the kunai and tag exploded in that moment. Sending the trunk of the tree into oblivion; flying pieces of shrapnel, ejected from the epicenter of the blast point. Large bits of splintered wood filled the air, dust and smoke from both the tree's remains and the tag joined in. Attack In her final action, Hibiki twirled her frame, ready to take advantage of her victim, Nikkotama. Using her built momentum, Hibiki grasped her tool from her hip, one of many across her belt. Sending her kunai, attached with a specially crafted explosive tag, bearing the symbol of Light, 軽, upon it. A flashbang tag. Hibiki was proud to note her series of attacks were fierce, but precise. A long range specialist, with little to no cost on her reserves. The fiercest Kunoichi, she felt, in all of Otogakure. And with the flashbang only a short distance from Nikkotama, Hibiki propped her fingers into the handseal of the Snake, activating it. From the tag, light and abhorrent sound pierced forth from the paper, cascading the environment with blinding illumination and deafening noise. Attack Hibiki laughed, her lips pulling into a dimpled smirk, eyes watching intently as the plan came together, "Ka!" Kisei Kumo: Kisei is caught entirely unawares by the incoming senbon barrage, and a few pierce his body in non vital points. One in particular gets stuck in his forehead. The electrified senbon stun him momentarily, causing him to fall backwards into the pond behind him... which triggers one of Izaya's traps. As his right hand passes through a ninja wire concealed in the murk, the noose tightens around his wrist and pulls him under the water unexpectedly. He doesn't even have time to cry out before he's disappeared in a splash of muddy water and bubbles. Kisei's first act while underwater is to free his limb from the offending ninja wire. He quickly severs the wire with a kunai. Defense Kisei then releases Hebi Kotsuzui from a storage seal (Move), and directs the serpentine puppet to strike at his attacker (Izaya) by burrowing through the soft mud and coiling around Izaya's body. Attack Setsuna Yoshida: Shiyo lets out a panicked squeal as she notices that they're under attack, her first action upon her team being ambushed is to run and hide inside a hollow-tree trunk, intending to use it as a makeshift cover for any additional projectile attacks; along with disguising Setsuna's next actions quite effectively. Once he had successfully concealed himself and gone into hiding, Setsuna reached for his chakra, as he with practiced ease had it wrap itself around his body like a second layer of skin, suppressing most of its volume and making him all that more difficult to sense, as he would appear to "blend" in with the florid amount of plants and wildlife present in the swamp, fading into the background. Move With the initial step of his preparations complete, Setsuna would begin to move on to the second portion, while he placed his back safely against the wall of the hollow tree trunk. Its great size serving as an excellent cower and hiding place, made all the more effective by the fact that his movements had been perfectly masked by Hibiki's Smoke Bombs earlier. ---- Behind Izaya was a fairly large pond, the water was murky and it was impossible to see the bottom, or make out any details of just what lurked within its depths, Setsuna however, during his earlier exploration of the area had discovered just what lurked down there. For it was the favored hunting ground for a particularly large anaconda. Employing the subtle sound-waves emanating from his transplanted devices, Setsuna would proceed to take control over the snakes senses through the use of a fairly minor genjutsu, urging it along and charming it into obeying him. Taking advantage of the environment and the poor lighting, Setsuna carefully had the snake slither out of its pond, its movements entirely silent despite its great size. Even while he wasn't facing his target, his prior exploration and use of echolocation and ambient sounds, in addition to the information conveyed to him through the sound-waves themselves made it easy for Setsuna to visualize the anacondas position despite the unfavorable conditions. The snake itself was likewise completely unbothered by the darkness and poor lighting, as to its eyes, it would see Izaya's body clearly, as a shape that glowed in the spectrum of red, orange and even yellow - associated with its ability to sense and discern heat as a method of sensory input. However, Setsuna didn't order it to attack just yet, there was something still that remained to be done. Instead instructing the snake to slither as close to Izaya as possible without alerting him to its presence. This something proved to be that Kisei summoned his puppet. For in the same instant Hebi Kotsuzui burrowed underground to attack Izaya from below; Setsuna had the anaconda lunged forward with surprising speed, poised in an ambush of Izaya. Its mouth opened wide revealing roughly a hundred rear-facing sharp teeth designed to grasp onto its prey and prevent Izaya from escaping. In mere moments after it'd make contact, it would quickly follow up with attempting to wrap the Kumogakure shinobi into its thick coils before crushing down upon him with its immense strength, in an attempt to completely immobilize him and making him easy pickings for Kisei's puppet. Attack Round 2: Team Karui Izaya Yashin: Izaya scrunched his nose as he felt a disturbing signature closing in. This was an unconsciousness skill of his sensory perception skills that allowed him to feel the anaconda that was under the genjutsu of Setsuna. In the first place, Izaya didn't take the approaching signature serious, until it came closer and into his direction. Looking behind him at the muddy pool, the boy shrieked inaudible as he witnessed the snake moving at a rapidly speed at him, and its beck wide-open to reveal the sharp razor fangs. With a reflex, Izaya threw two senbon that were hidden in his sleeve that had been charged with volts that would completely numb the snake, making it useless as a tool to attack for all its muscles would relax, completely. (Defensive, Kissing Senbon) He was about to crawl away of his current spot towards Nikkotama, however, he got stopped by the puppet snake of Kisei who coiled around the boy. "You stupid twat," muttered the Kumo-nin as he tried to trash himself loose, hurting his own arm in the meanwhile, which would most likely be noticed later after the rush of adrenaline kicked off. The puppet snake began to tighten its firm grip around Izaya and was in progress to crush him or at least wound him to the point he would become immobilized. Then Izaya completely calmed himself out of nowhere. He had realized that panicking would only make it harder for him to break out of the tightening grip of the puppet snake. He closed his eyes and concentrated the lightning chakra to the tips of his fingers that clutched the puppet snake's "skin". Succeeding to control his lightning chakra in his tips, Izaya pulsed out the lightning in a burst of energy that fully hit the snake's wooden frame, which caused it to explode with the impact of the lightning energy. It freed Izaya from the snake's grip; the boy was mostly harmed at his arms with slices and deep cuts due the wooden splinters that came from the frame. (Defensive) Shortly before the puppet's frame of Kisei exploded with the cause of the burst of lightning energy, Izaya had readied a small amount of lightning chakra that would serve for a different purpose, offensive, while he would defenisve himself at the same time. This lightning chakra were pulsing out from his fingertips that coursed through the hollow puppet, searching for loopholes to course through, and would divide its immense volt in lesser ones as the lightning found several threads of chakra that travelled back to the puppeteer. The threads of chakra would be infused with kneaded lightning chakra that could cause numbness, shocks and/or stunning the puppeteer. It all depended on the amount of chakra threads that would succeed to near and contact the controller of the puppet to decide the severity of the damage that the lightning could cause. (Attack) Nikkotama Byakko: * "Nikkotama stealthily lodges a kunai (with an explosive tag wrapped around it) towards a hive of Africanized Honey Bees" – Attack * "Nikkotama creates a new barrier but, this time, a stronger one" – Defense * "Nikkotama creates a barrier protect Izaya" – Defense : PLAY: Nikkotama was startled by the immediate detonation and the trunk she was standing on suddenly collapsed; the pieces of its base flying everywhere. She felt herself falling without control of how she will land, but she still hadn't lost concentration of her barrier — despite of it being a hard thing to do — and it protected her from the unavoidable pieces of sharp wood. Usually, she would've lost her barrier already, but knowing she was in a real battle field right that moment and in deep shit, it made her determination much more stronger. : It was true, Nikkotama thought, that when you're falling, everything around you seems to go in slow motion. And it did, because everything Nikkotama saw was so, so slow. But because of that slow pace, from the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a hive there, just above her enemy by the left side. At first, Nikkotama just stared at it, letting herself open up to the awaiting ground. It was as if it was an hour when she looked at it, but in truth, it was only a second before an idea struck her. She immediately got into action and, not letting herself looking so obvious, she quickly took a kunai out and threw it on the base of the hive (Attack), so it wouldn't jiggle and disturb the creatures that lived inside it. : Still, that didn't stop the fact that Nikkotama didn't have control on how she will fall, so she finally reached the area where there was fog before she hit the ground, almost entirely breaking her barrier. Fortunately, she was unharmed from the fall (due to her ninjutsu) and was only slightly wobbly on her feet. Her barrier had served her good. But then, another wave of attack broke lose. A flash-bomb activated with blinding illumination and an odious screech-like sound sliced through the air, momentarily trapping the nearby surroundings in a deafening noise and along the protected Nikkotama as well. Only when the flash and effect was finally gone did Nikkotama's barrier had actually been obliterated into tiny little shards. Thankfully. : Still, Nikkotama couldn't help but growl in anger as her barrier's shattered form disappeared into nothingness. Without any more hesitance and quickly moving into action again, Nikkotama created another barrier for herself in haste (Defense). : "Hey, you, lady! Can you hear me?!" Nikkotama hollered with a very annoyed look towards Hibiki, which wasn't really something someone would see through the fog; but Nikkotama cared not. The female enemy didn't look too amused, but a little disappointed because Nikkotama's unharmed unlike she'd expected. The dimpled smirk had long gone, but Nikkotama hadn't noticed and she continued, "That wasn't very nice!" : Standing there as if she wasn't doing anything valuable enough to stop and was half hidden by the fog, Nikkotama couldn't help but provide Izaya with a little help when she noticed that he was having a little trouble (Nikkotama snorted at that) with two enemies (via the noises). Nikkotama put a barrier around Izaya that would protect him for a while from anything (Defense). It was a hard thing to do considering she had an enemy of her own, but she could manage because she didn't need to do anything further. She only need to wait. But if ever Nikkotama was attacked, the barrier she had cast on Izaya would probably disappear, something that would most likely happen if Hibiki did attack now. Nikkotama felt herself sigh in relief when she thought of how she was protecting him with a little blush on her cheeks. She couldn't help it. : The fog still hung in the air, and Nikkotama felt a little bit weak against it, but she shook off the feeling, and thanked Kami that the fog was thin (sorta) enough to see a shadow. Nikkotama couldn't be wrong, but she saw her enemy's position (she couldn't be mistaken; since what kind of boy has a shapely body?!), and the position was just right. The kunai, she threw earlier, wasn't a normal kunai. Well, okay, maybe it was. But there was an explosive tag around it, and it was now lodged together on the hive's base of support on carrying the entire house! : Unfortunately for Hibiki, it wasn't just a hive. It was a wasp's hive. But not just any wasp, but the Africanized Honey Bees-wasp, and any moment now, the tag would explode. If they don't stop the "who will move first" situation right then, they — or just Hibiki, because Nikkotama had a barrier with her — would be caught up when the explosion would finally severe the only thing that let the hive hanging there and smash to the ground and loose the angry killer bees. : And that wasn't a good thing. Shichirou Chiyo: :The battle had begun, but Shichirou was stuck in a momentary daze, evident by the fact that he was staring at the girl before him (Hibiki) with a googly eyes. Oh, she was his type alright but he was quickly brought back into reality when he heard and explosion coming from the trees and a smoke obscured his view of her. “What in the…”, Shichirou muttered, taking a small glance up at the trees behind him. It took the child a minute to understand why Hibiki had targeted the trees and then he saw. Nikkotama was not there. This beautiful girl had targeted Nikkotama. No one targeted Nikkotama if he had anything to do with it. :Pulling his bubble blower from his side, Shichirou generated chakra into it; unique water chakra which he would then use for his family’s hiden, the Soap Bubble Ninjutsu. Wasting little time, Shichirou blew into the bubble blower producing prodigious amounts of little bubbles, no bigger than that of a marble but not any less dangerous than what people expected. When Hibiki created this smoky area, she forgot something important. While they could not see them, they also could not see Shichirou and his group. In fact, the only reason Shichirou knew where to blow the bubbles was the fact that he had observed Hibiki head from toe. The bubbles blew into the mist, hiding them from everyone’s sight. Attack :His second plan was to use this water as a distraction. If he blew the water into the air, that would surely grab the attention of everyone else and draw them away from Nikkotama and Izaya. Shichirou could hold his own against them, momentarily of course. Deciding to use the water as a distraction, finally after building up his courage, Shichirou blew tens of bubbles into the water. The bubbles traveled into the water, dispersing across the entire battlefield. This would obviously take time to do but even still, this was the best way to handle things indeed. The enemies would surely be incapable of seeing it coming. Attack :His bubbles would soon reach Hibiki and explode upon reaching her, whether they made contact or not as they were due to explode in a matter of a minute. His bubbles within the water would explode across the battlefield, but now he his teammates were in danger. Using his bubble blower, Shichirou emitted one bubble which covered him. Now, all that was left was his teammates. Using his blower once more, he blew one more bubbles into the water, however these bubbles were directed to Izaya considering Nikkotama had a barrier active; only if they stayed in their spot. Depending on this, Shichirou made sure that they would reach and consume Izaya and Nikkotama BEFORE his other bubbles exploded. Defense Round 2: Team Oto Hibiki Fuka: Kisei Kumo: Setsuna Yoshida: So, the enemy had begun to make their move had they? He was surprised to find that one of their number had succeeded in incapacitating one of his serpents, it wasn't that big of a feat, but it was a lucky one. Was the shinobi aware of his ability to use genjutsu? No, he strongly doubted it - the target was agitated upon learning that he was about to be attacked, it was but a fluke that he managed to disable his snake; apparently he didn't want to kill it and instead opted to paralyze it. Believing like any rational person would that he had but disturbed the snake and it had acted in self-defense due to Izaya invading its habitat. At this point, through the frequent sound-waves he had emitted from his person to gain an understanding of the area, Setsuna had become intricately aware of the battle strategies employed by his enemies. Through the images gained from his sound-waves and how he interpreted the sounds his enemies made, Setsuna became aware of the myriad of bubbles that by now had grown very numerous on the battlefield, being alerted to how his sound-waves seemed to ricochet off of the bubbles unnaturally dense outline. Intrigued by this freak of nature, he examined their source and found to his surprise that they came from one of the opposing genin, using standard means of sensory perception, his suspicions were confirmed, the bubbles were empowered by chakra. Whatever they were, they were most certainly not ordinary bubbles, they had an express purpose, most likely offensive in nature judging by how they seemed to be aimed at his teammates. Continuing his assessment of the situation, Setsuna noticed that among the myriad of small bubbles, there were two much larger ones heading for the remaining two members of the opposing team. Assuming that Shichirou didn't intend to cause his teammates any harm, Setsuna decided to place a bet on that the larger bubbles were intended for protection from something else: most likely the smaller bubbles given how they seemed to be the most direct threat to all of them at the moment, but why would he try to protect them from his own attack? Hadn't they undergone an orientation of their abilities beforehand? This indicated that the bubbles were presently beyond the control of their creator, and it also indicated, through his decision to protect them by means of confinement - that they were set to explode upon coming in contact with something, which could put his teammates at a disadvantage, hence the confinement. The bubbles seemed to move agonizingly slowly though. This was valuable intelligence, he would need to report the findings to his teammates immediately. He'd just need t-... wait, he began to feel the presence of something else as well, wings.. small wings, insects? Certainly not an uncommon sight in a swamp, but these ones sounded different somehow, the beats of their wings was more aggressive, and the way they moved indicated a lack of fear uncommon in most insects - he had a bad feeling about them. Years of striving to become an excellent sensor and an addition to his team had taught Setsuna that his instincts and gut feeling was seldom wrong, he would have to notify them of these insects as well; from the empathic imagery he gained from the sound-waves, they appeared to be some form bee-like insect, it was hard to tell with empathic images, they only showed a targets definite shape, little else. Using a genjutsu to connect with each of his teammates, he began to inform them of the dangers he had discovered, conveying information about his suspicions about the newly appeared insects (with a message to try to steer out of their way if at all possible). Along with information pertaining to the bubbles and his hypothesis on how he assumed that they were explosive in nature, he began to explain what else he had found as well; mentioning that one of the enemies, a girl he recognized as Nikkotama had begun to become quite an eyesore with her frivolous use of defensive techniques to protect her teammates, as his teammates had no doubt realized by now - he decided to give them the message of focusing on Nikkotama for now, it was important to bring her down quickly. Defense, Sensor Analysis "Focus on the girl who creates those pesky barriers for now, I need assistance in order to ensure that my next attacks hit home, do as I say and it should greatly increase our chances of winning in this battle. I can most certainly guarantee it" That was the final message Setsuna sent to his teammates before he began working on his next course of action. He needed to deal with Nikkotama quickly, he'd have to make sure to destroy her at this point. He needed quick results, he needed her to succumb quickly and he knew precisely what to do about it, reaching for his side, Setsuna drew several senbons, each of them being of a distinct reddish coloration, their color distorted by the venom that saturated them, it was an extreme case but the foolish girl had turned into more trouble than she was worth. His teachers might say that the black mamba was a bit excessive on a genin such as herself, he'd be lying if he didn't agree with them - but he possessed the antidote of its venom and if she was struck he could offer it in exchange for their scroll, besides, he and Hibiki were to succeed at all costs, those were his orders. Besides, their scroll in exchange for her life, he thought it a fair trade by all means, extortion and coercion were but tools of the trade for a shinobi such as himself. He was quite certain that her teammates would surrender to his demands in order to save their teammate, they seemed like a good-natured bunch. Walking out of hiding, Setsuna positioned himself so that he was facing the direction where he knew (thanks to his earlier assessment) where Nikkotama's position were, never moving more than a few feet from his hiding place. However, just to be sure, he used his abilities with echolocation to quickly ascertain her position. She was still largely in the exact same location as before, he would need to act quickly in order to catch her off-guard and possibly end this conflict in one fell swoop. The smokescreen offered an extraordinary opportunity for a sneak attack, as he, unlike they, didn't require sight at all in order to locate and kill his prey. Raising his hands, Setsuna quickly procured roughly a dozen envenomed senbon from his sleeves in each hand, expertly holding on to them as he with quick and precise movements had the first three of the senbon slip out of his hands by making use of meticulous movements. Once they were released they were sent flying towards their target, namely Nikkotama with great speed and impressive precision, they sailed silently through the air towards their mark - Setsuna's aid completely unencumbered by the poor lighting and looming black smoke; instead preparing each of the interconnected "waves of senbon" with merely the aid of his ears, and his uncanny understanding of sounds, both ambient and personal. With his next move, he would release another three senbon from his other hand towards Nikkotama's position, these were delivered with a more violent approach, sacrificing accuracy for added penetrative strength and speed; these would reach their targets before the first wave, and were intended to make the girl believe that they composed the entire attack, it was a simple strategy but one which could prove fruitful nonetheless against shinobi as inexperienced as genin. Attack, Senbonjutsu & Venom He was by no means finished however, as the Oto-nin threw the remaining senbon straight into the air, where they would ordinarily be left to fall down towards the enemy team in a chaotic hail of needles. But that simply wouldn't do, it'd be a waste of the precious resources which had so gracefully been bestowed upon his team by their Kage in order to help them, he needed to ensure that as many of the senbon as possible proved useful. With great alacrity, Setsuna produced another assortment of senbon from his sleeves before throwing them one-by-one towards the flurry of needles still climbing into the sky - assessing their trajectory, speed and estimated area of arrival from the sound they made as they sailed through the air; a combination of their relevant air resistance and pressure coupled with Setsuna's great experience within the field of Senbonjutsu and knowledge and understanding of sound. The newly procured needles were laced with the comparatively less harmless venom of the chain viper, and were much more readily expendable than the other needles. Its venom was a powerful hemotoxin, which, while less potent than that of the black mamba, could still inflict a lethal dose and result in many dangerous complications for the victim, it was also excruciatingly painful. With excellent precision guided by his enhanced hearing and his experience, Setsuna would proceed to throw these additional senbon, deflecting them off of the senbon already in the air above his target to intricately change their trajectory, angle and the direction of which they would strike; it was like a long string of interconnected attacks performed like steps in an elaborate dance, a dance he had practiced many times in his past. The senbon were all quickly rearranged, some changed to point directly down towards Nikkotama, rapidly gaining speed and velocity as their quick descent accentuated their speed by the pull of gravity. Some others were made to move towards their target at unexpected angles such as vertically plummeting down towards her upper body, being rearranged so as to fly towards her from behind, diagonally and a lot of other directions. Once they had served their purpose the chain viper senbon would begin to fall towards Nikkotama's general location as an unpredictable array of needles, most of them descending directly towards her or her teammates. Attack, Senbonjutsu & Venom Round 3: Team Karui Izaya Yashin: Nikkotama Byakko: Shichirou Chiyo: Round 3: Team Oto Hibiki Fuka: Kisei Kumo: Setsuna Yoshida: Round 4: Team Karui Izaya Yashin: Nikkotama Byakko: Shichirou Chiyo: ' Round 4: Team Oto Hibiki Fuka: Kisei Kumo: Setsuna Yoshida: Round 5: Team Karui Izaya Yashin: Nikkotama Byakko: Shichirou Chiyo: Round 5: Team Oto Hibiki Fuka: Kisei Kumo: Setsuna Yoshida: Round 6: Team Karui Izaya Yashin: Nikkotama Byakko: Shichirou Chiyo: Round 6: Team Oto Hibiki Fuka: Kisei Kumo: Setsuna Yoshida: Round 7: Team Karui Izaya Yashin: Nikkotama Byakko: Shichirou Chiyo: Round 7: Team Oto Hibiki Fuka: Kisei Kumo: Setsuna Yoshida: Epilogue